Author's note: And we'll pick up right where we left off.
Ruby rushed towards Mantle at terminal velocity, and activated Flight just before she passed the roofs of the first buildings. She slowed down almost immediately and headed to where she sensed the Grimm. Yang was in her dragon form and carried Nora, while Jaune used his shield as a hang-glider and Ren also used Flight.
"You came, nice," Ichigo said as Ruby landed to fight the Grimm. Unsurprisingly, the Grimm ignored Ichigo. However, they also didn't seem interested in fighting at the moment at all, likely on Ichigo's orders so they could talk.
"Who are you really?" Jaune asked as he landed next to Ruby, and Ichigo grimaced a bit.
"So bitter," Ichigo said, "Come on, show me some of that sweet, sweet agony."
"I'll show you something else," Ruby said and unleashed her silver eyes, petrifying the nearby Grimm, but also planning to copy Ichigo's semblance so they could find a weak spot or something of the sort. Following the call of an owl, Weiss came jumping out of an alley and landed behind Ichigo, and immediately shot a fireball at her. Ichigo jumped over the fireball, jumping much higher than she should be able to, and the attack hit Jaune. He used his shield to deflect the blow, redirecting it towards Ichigo. She created a platform of pink cream from her feet and jumped off of it, propelling herself even higher. Ichigo tilted forward and created another platform, jumped at Jaune and tackled him to the ground.
"Jaune!" Ruby called out. Yang, in her human form, Nora and Ren also landed on the street, and Ichigo stood behind Jaune after restraining him with a thick layer of solid dark yellow cream.
"I wouldn't struggle too much," Ichigo said to Jaune with a smirk, "If this thing breaks, you're toast." She pulled him up by his hood and drew her mace. Ruby realized she couldn't attack Ichigo without putting Jaune in danger. She backed away and the group assumed less intimidating poses.
"What do you want from us?" Ruby asked, trying to negotiate.
"Nothing," Ichigo answered, "I'm just looking for people's agony. Their sorrow and pain is just too delicious for me to pass up. Your despair, too."
"Wait, what?" Ruby asked, and opened a telepathic channel with her friends.
"What do we do?" Ruby asked mentally.
"I have a plan," Weiss answered, "I'll fling her away with a Glyph, then you make a clone of yourself and him to get him out of there."
"Well, I've never made a clone of someone other than myself," Ruby said, "But I can try."
"It's easy, just focus on saving him from getting electrocuted," Yang said, "Shadow Clones is actually pretty much up your alley. It just focuses on saving the user, rather than others. But you can do it."
"And then I rush in for a power boost," Nora said.
"Alright, let's do this," Ruby said.
"What are you taking so long?" Ichigo asked and said, "Wanting to enjoy sweet stuff isn't that shocking." Weiss used a Glyph to launch Ichigo away, hoping to catch her off-guard. However, Ichigo landed on her feet, and just as Ruby was about to dash over to Jaune, Ichigo shot a powerful wave of air from her mace, knocking everyone to the ground and breaking the cream holding Jaune. The cream erupted into lightning and Ruby immediately started recharging Jaune's aura, but Aura Amp couldn't connect to anything.
"No way," Ruby said and let her hands hang, and one by one, the others realized what that likely meant. Ichigo smiled as the group thought Jaune was gone, but then started to look uncomfortable as everyone's sorrow grew past a certain point.
"You know," Jaune said and appeared behind Ichigo, coated in pink lightnings, "That wasn't very nice." The others cheered up immediately, and Ichigo barely had time to recover from the shock and turn around when Jaune brought his great sword down on her.
"How?" Ichigo asked, barely able to deflect his attack with her mace. He brought his sword around again and hit her with a sideways swing, sending her flying with an aura wave following her. She came to a stop and looked at Jaune, only to be hit in the face by the aura wave. Ichigo crashed through the petrified Grimm and came to a stop on the other side of the group.
"Hope you don't mind me emulating your semblance," Jaune said and walked over to Ichigo. She created a thick wall of solid pink cream in between her and the group. On the other side, Ichigo heard Jaune crack his knuckles, just before he punched through the wall and grabbed her shirt. He pulled her through to the other side and tossed her against a wall, depleting her aura.
"Somebody, help!" Ichigo called out in faked distress, and the group could quickly hear angry people, both humans and faunus, approach to see which side had gotten aggressive this time. Trying to save the situation as best as possible, they fled the scene and left Ichigo behind. Jaune put his weapon away again and tried to jump onto a dumpster to climb a ladder onto the roof of a house, but accidentally ended up on top of the house due to how strong he was.
~o~
Back in Atlas, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Ren and Nora met with the rest of their group and the Ace-Ops, who were just about to get going when they saw the others return. Qrow could already tell that it didn't go as well as they had hoped.
"And, how'd it go?" Qrow asked.
"Well, Ichigo got away," Ruby answered, "Or rather, we had to leave her there. She would've made us look like the bad guys otherwise, and we can't let her do that."
"But the plus side?" Qrow asked.
"I copied her semblance," Ruby answered, "That way, I can see how it works, and we can try to find a possible weakness."
"And Jaune copied my semblance," Nora said.
"Yeah, how did you do that?" Weiss asked and said, "I mean, neither of you has silver eyes."
"I did it the old-fashioned way," Jaune answered.
"Meaning?" Nora asked.
"When we fused, I got a lot of experience with lightning-based semblances," Jaune answered, "Also, while I let Pyrrha have some fun a few days back, I was nearby and kept an eye on everyone, including you. All I had to do was figure out how to make my aura behave like yours. And with us fusing, it was pretty easy."
"I see," Nora said, "Well, at least you're alive. That's what matters."
"Alright everyone," James said, "Once Ruby can use that semblance, we'll put you through training until we find a weakness, and then we will put a stop to that woman."
"Got it," Ruby said and sat down. She retreated into her soul core and started looking around for the new emblem. She first wanted to ask Emerald for help, but found her sleeping under a tree and didn't want to disturb her. However, no matter where she looked, she couldn't find any new emblems.
~o~
Sirena walked through her kingdom, looking around and seeing happy faces all around. There was no fear anywhere in the main cave, but she sensed something just outside the supply route to Mistral.
"You there, come with me," Sirena said to some guards and started running towards the eastern entrance. The guards followed her immediately, and they all jumped into the water. She drew her trident, her soldiers loaded their harpoons as they swam, and the group left a trail of bubbles in their wake.
~o~
After an hour, Sirena and her soldiers reached an outpost that was surrounded by Razorfin, with the soldiers and farmers inside being scared of them. Sirena could sense that their auras were weak, but she couldn't do much about it. She used Aura Amp to fuse with Cinder's soul, and Mithala used her silver eyes to petrify most of the Grimm, copying the soldiers' semblances, and letting them copy hers. She then reverted back to being Sirena.
"You there, get inside the outpost and learn to use this semblance," Sirena said in old Soraklian, as was custom on the battlefield, and pointed at one of her soldiers. The man immediately followed the order. The Grimm attacked as soon as their petrified brethren sunk enough for the others to sense the people's negativity again. With reduced numbers, their usual tactic didn't work, so they just charged in.
"Here they come," one of the soldiers said in old Soraklian, and fired a harpoon into one of the Grimm as it charged at him. He swam aside and extended vines from his legs, wrapping them around another Razorfin. As the first one exploded into a spiked ball of ice, the soldier pulled the second one to himself and decapitated it with his weapon's scythe form.
"I won't let you," Sirena shouted and made a barrel flip over a Grimm, impaling it with her trident and pulling it with her. She tossed it towards a Razorfin attacking one of her soldiers, and the sharp bone plate on its dorsal fin decapitated it as the first one died to its injuries.
"Thank you, Your Highness," the battle mage said and fired the concussion blast she had prepare through three more Grimm. The battlefield was pure chaos. Most people would be hopelessly lost, not being able to see anything, and with Grimm everywhere. Razorfin could use electroreception, both to navigate and communicate, making it impossible for the average person to outmaneuver them. The average Soraklian could sense the vibrations in the water somewhat. And due to the training from the surface, most of Sirena's people had no problem tracking the enemies and responding to attacks in time.
"Eat slime," the guard Sirena had sent away said as he returned from the outpost, and fired a light green sludge from his hands. The slime, meant to restrain targets, stuck to the Grimm and, thanks to Deathzone, caused it to take damage over time. He kept repeating the tactic, despite his aura running low from having to use two semblances at once to do it.
"That's enough," Sirena said, unfortunately too late, as the man's aura broke and he was targeted by the Grimm immediately. They knew that killing even one of the people would cause the others to despair, and that would attract their backup. Sirens swung her trident, using water-goo to collect water around its prongs into a scythe. She charged towards the soldier and decapitated any Grimm that got too close.
"Your Highness," one of her soldiers said, trying to approach. When Sirena ran out of water-goo, she used ice to form a battle axe. Upon each hit, the head shattered and the ice raced to the surface.
"Leave, and take the ones in the outpost with you," Sirena said, and used Tranquility to mask all of them at once. The soldiers followed the order and left. When she ran out of ice-goo, she entered her Alpha State and charged at the Grimm with her bare hands, simply dropping her trident.
~o~
When Ruby returned from her soul core, she was met with the faces of her friends, who looked at her full of expectation, like she was some kind of savior. When they noticed her expression, however, she could sense their hope shatter and despair grow.
"I couldn't find it, sorry," Ruby said.
"But it has to be there, right?" Nora asked.
"It should, yes," Ruby answered, "I used my silver eyes, and she looked into the light, so our souls should have collided and left a mark on one another."
"Maybe she just doesn't have a soul," Blake said.
"But we saw her use her semblance," Marrow said.
"Wait a minute," Jaune mumbled to himself.
"But she is making her own kind, our kind, look bad in the eyes of humans!" Blake said, "Something is wrong with her."
"Maybe she's blind," Jaune suggested, drawing all the attention to herself.
"But her eyes are red," Ruby said.
"Colored contact lenses," Jaune said.
"So, what now?" Yang asked, "Do we just keep getting our butts kicked by some blind rabbit girl?"
"No, we won't," Ruby answered, "We'll brainstorm and find a solution. But first, we need to figure out what motivates her. What do we know about her?"
"Her semblance is dangerous," Blake answered, "It lets her create a substance that is kind of liquid, but hardens quickly, and she can make it take any shape she wants. And she can also change direction mid-air."
"She could lock it in place by using ambient aura," Jaune said, "Meaning she just got a lot more dangerous."
"She also said something about flavor," Blake said, "In relation to causing chaos in Mantle, that is."
"Sensing negative emotions is based on vision," Ruby said, "So, if she was born blind, maybe she senses them another way."
"You mean by taste?" Yang asked, confused about her own suggestion.
"Likely," Weiss said, "There is a condition called synesthesia, in which a person's brain causes two sensory responses from one stimulus. The most common example is seeing words you hear, but it can be anything."
"I had a classmate who got mad at people a lot because he didn't like the sound of their food," Qrow said, "We all thought he was crazy."
"Well, to be fair," Yang said, "If what you're eating still makes noises, you probably shouldn't eat it."
"So, she can effectively fly and tastes other people's negative emotions," James said and asked, "Any idea how to beat her?"
"She also seems to have some extra-sensory abilities," Blake said, "And, of course, enhanced hearing. There is no way you'll sneak up on her. I doubt even I could do that."
"Maybe we can overload her senses," Ruby said, "Sensing negative emotions is passive, so she can't stop sensing ours. And if we build up enough, we can distract her with that."
"That sounds like a job for you, then," Yang said.
"Me? Why?" Ruby asked.
"Because you're the best at that sort of thing," Yang answered, "I don't know anyone who can build up that much sorrow and not break down. Especially every day for over a week."
"I guess you're right," Ruby said, "But all that sorrow will attract Grimm as well, and that seems to be what she's after. Or at least, she knows that's what her actions will lead to, and she accepts it."
"Shouldn't that be, you know, illegal?" Nora asked.
"Yes, it should," James answered, "I will get the council to change the constitution and have that added, as soon as the next election is through and we have all five seats occupied again."
"But we can only have an election a year after the previous one," Weiss said, "So unless my father dies, we'll have to wait."
"In any case, we should probably prepare," Ruby said, "Once we start this, all those Grimm that formed after we killed the Apophis will be drawn here, and with me fighting Ichigo, and Sirena in Soraklia, we only have one silver-eyed warrior available to take down the Grimm for good."
"My military still isn't back at full strength," James said, "But we will do our best."
"Alright," Ruby said, "Let's do this." The group split into several smaller ones, with Ruby taking a few people to combat practice, so they could get a better understanding of how they each fought, and improve their teamwork in the battle against Ichigo.
~o~
James went through a list of his military's weapons, and saw that it was still nowhere near where he wanted it to be. Dust was not much of an issue, but they still didn't have enough metal to make all the rockets and bullets they would need for the inevitable horde of Grimm. Just as he was trying to figure out what to do, he got a message from one of his offshore bases.
"Sir, it is back," the message read. It came with a sound file attached, and when he played it, he heard the typical metallic ringing sound, playing a strange symphony with unnaturally perfect and consistent rhythm. He immediately called Ruby, Jaune, Qrow, Oscar and Clover into his office.
"What is it?" Ruby asked as she and Qrow appeared in the office in a blur of rose petals. Jaune brought Oscar along the same way, and Clover also used Petal Burst to answer the call.
"Listen," James answered and played the audio file again.
"Sounds pretty," Ruby said and asked, "So, what's the issue?"
"The issue is what happens next," Clover answered and explained, "Every ten years or so, this sound appears for a few weeks. It comes from deep under water, and until a decade ago, no one knew what was making this sound."
"Could it be natural?" Jaune asked.
"No," James answered, "My best scientists agree that nothing in nature can maintain this kind of rhythm so perfectly. It's better than most professional musicians. Something sentient is creating these sounds. And I have a pretty good idea who."
"So Sirena is making music," Ruby said and asked, "Are you really going to be mad at her for that?" James sighed and made a holograph appear above his desk, showing a graph over a year, with a spike a few weeks into the future.
"This is a graph of sunken ships from last time this happened," James explained and pulled up more graphs, "And these are from the times before then." Ruby saw that they all had a spike in the same time period.
"Whatever Sirena is doing down there causes ships to sink," Clover explained, "And we can't afford that, especially now."
"But do you know for sure that it's her?" Oscar asked and said, "I mean, Soraklian law forbids sinking ships, and we all know how serious she is about those laws. She wouldn't do it."
"She has a motive, and she is where the sounds originate," James answered, "And like I said, nothing in nature can create those rhythms. They have to be man-made."
"We don't know how many people there are, but they need food," Clover said, "If their population is stagnant, it is possible that they simply sink some ships every now and again to replenish their supplies."
"But how are the ships sinking in the first place?" Jaune asked.
"Air rises to the surface in a big bubble, and envelops the ship," James answered, "When the bubble breaches the surface, it creates a hollow space under the ship. The ship falls, and water comes crashing down on it from all sides, flooding and sinking it."
"I still don't believe that Sirena is behind this," Ruby said, "I know her too well to believe that."
"What other explanation could there be, though?" Clover asked.
"I don't know," Ruby answered, "Not yet, at least. But I won't just sit down and act on an assumption that is based on scientists who have been shown to be fallible in the past. Sirena knows the deep sea better than the military, and that is an established fact. Those same scientists that said that Harriet would never walk again, that there were no dragons, and that the deep sea was frozen, now make another claim, and after they have been wrong so often, I would like to get an actual expert's opinion on the matter."
"What was that about the deep sea?" Clover asked, and Jaune, Qrow, James and Oscar also looked at Ruby.
"It's true that the deep sea is below freezing," Ruby answered, "But water acts differently down there, and can't arrange into a crystalline structure due to the pressure. Therefore, it stays liquid."
"I see," James said and asked, "But where do you think we find an expert? Sirena is gone, and if she wanted to tell us, she'd come back, right?"
"Yeah, probably," Ruby answered, "She'd show up, give a small speech about how your scientists should stay in the shallow waters where they don't get nightmares from what they see, then tell us what that sound is."
"So, what do you suggest we do?" Qrow asked.
"I could check that book again," Ruby answered, "If this phenomenon is dangerous, it should be explained in there."
"And if not?" James asked, "I mean, if it isn't explained, since it is very much dangerous. What then?"
"Then we'll go and see what is causing that sound," Ruby answered.
"You mean Donna and Ryn?" Jaune asked.
"Not just those two," Ruby answered and asked, "James, how fast can your men turn a Manta into a submarine?"
"Are you crazy?" James asked.
"Not legally," Ruby answered with a smirk, then turned serious, "But jokes aside, always playing it safe and never taking any risks allowed Tyrian and Arthur to get into your kingdom and would've gotten Clover killed weeks ago, just before Salem would've showed up outside this city with her army, if we hadn't stepped in and saved your kingdom from you."
"What do you mean?" James asked, and he, Qrow and Clover were rather confused by Ruby's answer.
"The night we arrived here, I found this," Ruby answered and pulled out her scroll. She made it project a holographic screen, which showed a still image of Ruby's Group fighting Sabyr in Mantle.
"What… is this?" James asked.
"A video, out of a dozen," Ruby answered, "They showed me what would happen in the future. If we hadn't stepped in, you would've gone completely off the rails, because Winter and the Ace-Ops reinforced your worst traits, undermined your mental health, and ultimately sabotaged your efforts to protect this kingdom. They knew that Mantle hated you, knew you wanted people not to give in to hatred, and said nothing about the hypocrisy, directly helping Salem destroy this kingdom's foundation. And while you can have a pyramid without the tip, take out the foundation and it all comes crashing down."
"You… knew about all that?" Clover asked in shock.
"Yes, I did," Ruby answered, "I know I'm taking a big risk telling you all this, but I believe it is the right thing to do. I knew what would happen, and I could have gone about it in a lot of ways. I chose to get the Ace-Ops to copy a lot of semblances to make them actually help James."
"Wait, we were helping him," Clover said.
"No, you weren't," Ruby said, "You were doing what he told you, telling him what he wanted to hear, and ignored his mental health issues. But my friends and I helped you become the people you thought you were, so all is fine now." She put her scroll away again and left the office, while the others, safe for Jaune, were too shocked to stop her from leaving.
~o~
Sirena returned to her kingdom, unsure of what to do. She almost lost more of her people. She had to do something. She decided to train her people more, but Flawless Tactics told her that it wouldn't achieve what she wanted. She planned to expand to the west, but again, a failure. She planned to expand to the east, but another failure. She went through everything she could do without returning to the surface, but every time, her plan to save as many people as possible would fail.
"Your Highness," one of her people said when she returned to the cave.
"Greetings," Sirena said, "I need more ice-goo."
"Of course, Your Highness," the man said and walked away to get new vials. When he returned, Sirena handed him her empty vials, and he handed her full ones.
"Thank you," Sirena said, and turned to leave. She returned to her castle, and announced her imminent departure, putting her regent, crown prince Srebro Blue, in charge again.
"My sincerest apologies, Your Highness, but the princes have both left earlier," her advisor said in an apologetic tone.
"I see, thank you," Sirena said. Using Kindred Link, she tracked them down, but couldn't locate them, meaning they had likely fused again. She put her advisor in charge and decided to wait until the two would split up again. She intended to step in as soon as they split up, but Flawless Tactics said she would again fail to save as many people as possible if she did, so she instead set a Countdown for when she should step in.
~o~
Plava swam to the surface, using his tail to swim faster, and breached the surface just as he was about to run out of oxygen again. Both his parts, crown prince Srebro and prince Biser, were proud of themselves for getting so good at filtering oxygen from the water with their auras. He took a deep breath to refill his oxygen somewhat, and looked around. The area looked artificial, with rectangular walkways leading into the ocean and large ships affixed to some of them. The fusion let himself sink into the ocean a bit and jumped onto the walkways, then split up again.
"What now?" Srebro asked his brother. Both had silver eyes and short, black hair, wore dark blue t-shirts and black cargo shorts.
"Well, you are the crown prince," Biser answered, "You give the orders, I follow. That is how our mother decided." Unlike their fusion, which had the body of an eight year old, the two parts were only five years old. However, they had a lot of experience, due to their mother telling them stories when they were younger.
"Alright, let's see," Srebro said and looked around, "This appears to be what mother called a coastal city. Many people, good connections to other cities. We should be able to find what we are looking for." They walked around and took in the scenery, but couldn't help but notice the strange looks they were getting. The people around them were dressed in much more clothing than the two were used to, and even had their feet covered. Suddenly, a man ran past a woman and grabbed something from her side in passing.
"Stop! Thief!" The woman called, but nobody seemed to respond. The two faunus were appalled at the people's indifference, and Biser's eyes turned red and his dark blue aura flared up. He looked at the thief running away, and instantly knew his every weakness.
"That won't make her love you!" Biser yelled, and the thief stopped in his tracks, realizing the truth in the boy's words. The boys approached the man, who still faced away from them. As they got closer, the thief drew a dagger and charged the boys. Srebro's aura flared up as well, and he suddenly felt like he had the skill of his forefathers. Seeing he was attacking children, the thief faltered. Srebro deflected the dagger with his left hand, grabbing the man's wrist. He jumped up, using the man's arm as support, and kicked him in the chin. The man stumbled backwards and Srebro landed on his feet in perfect form. After the thief fell over and passed out, Srebro's aura broke and he felt incredibly exhausted.
"Thank you, thank you so much," the woman said as she caught up to the duo, and took her belongings back from the thief.
"Gods, are you alright?" Another man asked and ran up to the boys, along with the rest of the crowd, when they saw Srebro drop to his knees. Biser's eyes turned red again and he looked at the crowd.
"He would not be hurt if you had not been a coward," Biser said to one man, then faced the others, "You think too much, and my brother and I almost paid for it with our lives. If you keep thinking about what you can't do, you will never see what you can do." He went on a tirade, scolding people and exposing their emotional and mental weaknesses, until his aura broke as well and his eyes returned to silver once more. In the distance, the two heard a strange sound, and the crowd parted to let a vehicle approach. Men and women in uniform went and took the man away, and also offered to help the boys with what they were doing.
~o~
Ruby went through the Encyclopedia Aquatica, trying to find anything about strange music in perfect rhythm. She skimmed through the pages, using Loremaster to instantly understand what was written on them, but couldn't find anything about the music, safe for the singing tree. As she kept reading, she learned more and more things about the deep sea that she would rather not know, but she kept going, hoping to find out what was causing this music. If she couldn't, war would break out, and Atlas would be destroyed. She had to prevent that, no matter what. Using Puppeteer, she sent some of Sophie's swarm members a message to get working on modifying a Manta so it could function under water, then went back to reading.
Author's note: Surprise. Ichigo is blind and tastes negative emotions. It's not really synesthesia, though. Her brain just processes emotions differently than normal people. For most people, emotions are seen, because that's their main sense. Ichigo tastes them, because she loves eating. A musician, even one that can see, would likely hear emotions.
Yeah, Jaune learned to emulate Nora's semblance the old-fashioned way. Aka, the actual way, which everyone has been happily circumventing until now. The main reason he only needed a few days is because he knows Nora so well, they fused, and she had very little secrets from him while they were fused. Also, I love the idea of characters that suddenly gain super strength not knowing how strong they are, and accidentally jumping too high.
On that note, Harriet ran into a wall and knocked herself out when she unlocked her semblance, and you can't convince me otherwise.
There are actually rocks that make music. There's some videos on Youtube, and it sounds awesome. Just look up Ringing Rocks.
Sirena has a plan. And now that you know how she makes those, I can explain it properly. Yay.
Biser has the soul of Carnage, that assassin that tried to kill Sirena. His semblance is Breaking Point, and it tells the user any weakness of whoever they look at. He is actually the first-born, but Sirena didn't think he would be a good king with his semblance.
Srebro's semblance is called Inheritance. It gives him a boost to any skill one of his ancestors excelled in, but only if he knows that ancestor. So far, he knows Sirena, and that his father was skilled in hand to hand combat. But because he doesn't know his father, using his skill takes a lot of aura.